Park Jin-young opens N.Y. restaurant

Korean music mogul Park Jin-young has become an owner of a Korean barbecue restaurant in New York, featuring a special grill that he invented.

Park, CEO and founder of JYP Entertainment, a major K-pop record label and management company in Korea, held a press meeting in New York on Monday announcing the news.

The newly opened restaurant, Kristalbelli, is located in Manhattan near Korea town, and is decorated like a high-end bar or a lounge. He said he thought of opening his own restaurant as he could not think of many Korean dining places to recommend in the U.S., when the locals asked him for his suggestions.

Park Jin-young

The restaurant features a special grill which looks like a convex mirror. Park said he invented the grill for the restaurant and its unusual shape shortens the grilling time while effectively controlling the barbecue smoke and odor at the same time. The record producer also came up with his own grilling manual after visiting countless barbeque restaurants in Korea.

According to JYP Entertainment, Park is planning to open more branches of the restaurant in cities worldwide, including Beijing, L.A., Shanghai, Tokyo, and Seoul. Park primarily chose cities where hallyu has a big influence, JYP Entertainment said.